Tooth Fairy Do's and Don'ts

Tooth Fairy Do’s and Don’ts

Last updated on September 11th, 2025 at 02:58 pm

When my daughter was 18 months old, she fell off the couch chipping her tooth. In a tizzy, I immediately booked an appointment with a pediatric dentist. I was relieved to find out there was no nerve damage, and chipped teeth are common for young children.

Much to my dismay, the chipped tooth abscessed a year and a half later, meaning an extraction was required. I felt awful for my three-year-old to have a tooth extraction and I may have overdone the Tooth Fairy bit. Now that my kids are six years old and actually losing teeth on the regular, I’ve gained some Tooth Fairy wisdom.

Don’t miss out on the tradition of the Tooth Fairy! After all, the Tooth Fairy is a magical rite of passage for children and parents alike.

Do have fun reading about the Tooth Fairy, share tales of when the Tooth Fairy visited you, and savor the magic with your child.

Don’t let your child leave his tooth under his actual pillow! Who would want to search under a pillow in the darkness for a tiny tooth?

Do designate a special vessel to hold the tooth, and place it on a nightstand, dresser, or even hanging on the doorknob. You can find a variety of inexpensive trinket boxes or pouches at dollar stores, or you can bedazzle one from a craft store. If you get lucky, you might even find a small pillow just for the Tooth Fairy! We recently spied one at Target in the dollar section.

Don’t handwrite notes from the Tooth Fairy. It’s difficult to pull off miniature fairy precision handwriting! Even if you’re an expert at fairy handwriting, your child may discover similarities between your handwriting and the Tooth Fairy’s handwriting.

Do type notes using a frilly script font using a small size. Kids really do love receiving notes from the Tooth Fairy. If you are a note leaver like me, mix it up and leave notes sometimes but not others. There will be times that typing a note is not in the cards. This keeps Tooth Fairy notes mysterious and magical.

Notes to the Tooth Fairy: A Special Touch

Encourage your kids to add an extra sprinkle of magic to their tooth fairy encounters by leaving sweet notes to the Tooth Fairy. These little messages can turn a routine tooth exchange into a heartwarming tradition.

Do provide small notepads or colorful paper along with pens or crayons near the designated tooth vessel. Encourage your kids to write notes to the Tooth Fairy expressing their gratitude or sharing a funny story about their lost tooth.

Don’t worry about perfect spelling or handwriting – the Tooth Fairy is a magical being and appreciates the effort and sincerity of every note.

Do cherish these precious notes as keepsakes. Create a Tooth Fairy scrapbook where you can preserve these tiny messages along with photos of your kids’ toothless smiles.

Encouraging Dental Hygiene with Notes

Don’t leave candy or sweet treats. After all, the Tooth Fairy prefers cavity-free pearly whites.

Do use the Tooth Fairy as an opportunity to encourage good dental hygiene. Remember the Tooth Fairy notes? Notes are the perfect opportunity for the Tooth Fairy to remind children to brush and floss daily. A first tooth taken by the Tooth Fairy might even be swapped for a fun new toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss!

Sustainable Traditions and Treasures

Don’t go overboard with the first tooth. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the fun and magic for tooth number one but remember each child has 20 baby teeth to lose, and they sometimes fall out unexpectedly. If you’ve got multiples, you might find yourself scrambling to keep up unrealistic traditions. I’ve heard of kids receiving $20 per tooth! I personally never seem to have cash in my wallet, and I’ve got four six-year-olds. Over time, that’s way too many twenties for me to dole out.

Do come up with easily sustainable traditions you can maintain, even if a tooth falls out right before bed and you haven’t got a single dollar in your wallet. At my house, the Tooth Fairy deposits a few quarters (from my laundry room piggy bank) in our designated Tooth Fairy treasure boxes. A friend of mind has a stash of golden coins from an arcade she can easily grab last minute.

Timing is Everything

Don’t go in too early, or too late. You don’t want the Tooth Fairy making a visit before your little one is dreaming of glittery dollar bills. On the flipside, you don’t want the Tooth Fairy bursting in when your child is waking up in the morning.

Do make sure the Tooth Fairy visits when your child is sleeping soundly and you haven’t yet settled yourself into bed.

Don’t leave teeth visible in the trash can, or anywhere else your child may discover them.

Do make sure the Tooth Fairy either conceals teeth deep into the trash can or hide them in a very safe, hidden place for safekeeping (that is if you’re a weird mom like mine who likes to keep baby teeth).

Amber Shawver and her husband, George, are the proud parents of girl-boy-girl-boy quadruplets who debuted in 2012. Amber draws from her experiences working in childcare settings and as a school based behavioral consultant to manage raising quadruplets at home. Amber continues to practice school psychology part-time in an urban school district. She chronicles life raising quadruplets at Four to Adore. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.